ARL News
The 137th Open
01 Aug 2008- Details
- Category: ARL News
The 137th Open, at Royal Birkdale, will be remembered for its wild weather, its pure drama, a champion who almost didn't play in the tournament due to a wrist injury and the launch of ARL's new Golf Graphics Package. With 3 months build up the Virtual Eye golf team was busy integrating new technologies into our graphics. Working with the Trackman radar tracking system, our graphics we able to accurately represent the flight path of tee shots. The Trackman system measures ball trajectory, ball carry, ball and club speed and other shot data. This information is sent real time to our graphics computers and graphics are available for commentators to analyze as the golfers walk to their second shots.
The Golfing drama was heightened by a see-sawing leader board with over 21 players within 5 strokes of one another, winds which never faded under 20MPH and torrential rain which made for some challenging moments. As always our teams were right there walking the fairways getting accurate ball positions from the fairways, bunkers and the occasional burn (stream). The ability to combine flight path data for shots with weather conditions and the various strategies associated with playing holes allows the commentators tell the stories behind the shots. Viewers can physically see the ball path of tee shots and better understand the strategies and course management ideas being adopted by the pros. The Virtual Eye golf system can now combine photo realistic golf course models and weather conditions, with actual flight trajectories and final ball locations.
